Justice Secretary Alex Norris has been tasked by new PM Andy Burnham with finding ways to keep the serious offenders in prison, including the killers of PC Harper
Andy Burnham has ordered his Justice Secretary to “work through further options” to prevent the early release of PC Andrew Harper’s killers .
Downing Street had said it was “not possible” to exempt “one or two offenders” convicted of manslaughter from the early release scheme.
However, Justice Secretary Alex Norris has now been tasked with finding ways to keep “a greater number of the most serious offenders” behind bars.
It comes amid increasing pressure from PC Harper’s family and the police not to allow Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter, to be freed in January.
A Government spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister has asked the Justice Secretary to work through further options to keep a greater number of the most serious offenders in prison, including the killers of PC Harper.”
Speaking on Tuesday morning, Angela Rayner said the PM understands the “rage and the anger” over the potential early release, and was working to stop it.
The Communities Secretary told BBC Breakfast: “He understands the rage and the anger and he’s not accepting that we can’t do anything to prevent that, and he’s been really clear that he wants the Justice Secretary to look at that again.”
PC Harper was 28 when he sustained fatal injuries while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019. He died after getting caught in a strap attached to the back of a car and dragged down a country road as three teenage suspects fled the scene of the burglary.
The driver of the vehicle, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence and will not be eligible for release.
More than 880,000 people have signed a petition calling for PC Harper’s killers to remain in jail. Speaking on Tuesday morning, the police officer who started the petition said she is “optimistic” the Government will prevent them being freed.
Thames Valley Police Federation chairwoman Aileen O’Connor told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There’s a little bit of glimmer of hope and encouragement with this latest release that we heard last night, but I can’t lose sight of just hours before that we heard that there was no possibility. So for me, I’m encouraged, I’m optimistic.
“And I genuinely believe that the powers that be, Andy Burnham – and the difficult decisions that they have to make – he will make the right choices here, and he will come on board with us, and he’ll get the right side of the line. The strength of feeling up and down the country, where over 900,000 people have signed that petition, that’s the British public that have got behind this campaign.
“This is their voice, and this is about justice for Andrew and justice for Lissie and his family.”
It comes after Mr Burnham last week tightened rules so that rape and serious child sexual offences would be excluded from early release. The controversial programme to let offenders free early was designed to avoid the collapse of the crisis-hit prison system
The early release changes were part of the Sentencing Act passed earlier this year that cut the minimum amount of time many offenders would have to spend in prison.
Those freed will face tougher probation conditions, including electronic monitoring, random drug testing and possible bans from driving, pubs and events such as football matches.
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